Moss, Braves tame Twins

Atlanta 3, Minnesota 2

MINNEAPOLIS -- Tom Glavine was watching the World Cup on TV the other day when Damian Moss mentioned he'd played rugby in his native Australia.

''Got knocked out a couple of times,'' Moss said proudly.

''When did it dawn on you that maybe rugby wasn't for you?'' Glavine asked dryly.

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Soon after, apparently. Good thing it did, too, because Moss is on the cusp of delivering on his great promise following Wednesday night's 3-2 win over the Minnesota Twins, offering a seven-inning, two-hit performance that wrapped up the Braves' triumphant two-city tour of the American League.

By the end of the evening, the Twins were convinced that Glavine had grown muttonchop sideburns and adopted a Down Under accent. Moss delivered a carbon copy of Glavine's seven shutout innings Tuesday night, allowing two singles and two walks, both to Denny Hocking, before giving way to Mike Remlinger after seven. Hocking was the only baserunner to advance to second against Moss, which he did on a passed ball in the sixth.

John Smoltz gave up a pair of runs in the ninth before nailing down his 19th save.

Pity the poor Twins, who managed just two hits against Glavine, then faced his twin, who's 11 years younger, but uses a sinker and fastball almost as effectively. For the first time in three starts, Moss was economical, throwing 98 pitches, 66 for strikes, and made it through another night without giving up a home run.

But it was close. Torii Hunter's bid to pull the Twins close in the seventh was gloved by center fielder Andruw Jones at the right-center field wall, who then fired a strike to first baseman Wes Helms to complete an inning-ending double play.

Moss, who had an 11-2 lead in his last start last Friday against the Rangers, but didn't survive an untidy fifth, coasted through the first six innings. He didn't give up a hit until Cristian Guzman opened the home half of the fourth with a single, and he promptly picked him off first base. Guzman's mistake was particularly egregious because he had watched Moss pick off Hocking from first base in the third.

In the seventh, Matthew LeCroy singled with one out, then Hunter drove a pitch toward the right-center field wall, where Jones plucked it out of the air, spun and sent a spike through the hearts of the 21,485 fans in the Metrodome.

The Braves' offense, meanwhile, banged out another eight hits, including five singles, to knock off the Twins for the second straight time after losing, 6-5, in 15 innings Monday night.

Rafael Furcal, who had six hits in the last two games here, opened Wednesday with a double into the left field corner and scored the first run on Gary Sheffield's single. Twins starter Johan Santana survived the fourth after Chipper Jones singled and Andruw Jones walked, striking out Javy Lopez and Helms with Chipper Jones on third, then Furcal doubled and scored on the second of Santana's two wild pitches in the fifth.

Santana went walk, single, walk to the next three batters and was lifted for reliever J.C Romero, who coaxed Vinny Castilla to tap to shortstop Guzman, ending the rally.

Sheffield, who was 5 for 11 with four walks, and knocked in three in the three games against the Twins, went deep against reliever LaTroy Hawkins in the seventh, his 10th home run of the season.